John Kerry in the Senate
JOHN KERRY is facing his first primary opponent since he was elected to the US Senate in 1984. Perhaps he has become a larger target since running unsuccessfully for president four years ago, or, in some quarters, because of his vote in 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq. But over a long career Kerry has been steadfast in his commitment to Democratic principles, and he has worked tirelessly to advance those principles in straitened political times. The Globe endorses John F. Kerry in the Democratic primary for US Senate Sept. 16.
In reviewing his accomplishments, Kerry tends to return to glory days that only the most dedicated political buff would recall: his role chairing hearings into the darkly twisted BCCI banking scandal, or drug trafficking by Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega. But neither has he been just licking his wounds since the painful 2004 election. He returned to his corruption-fighting roots in 2006, when he authored a package of ethics reforms that will prevent any future convicted felons, such as former House member Randy "Duke" Cunningham, from collecting congressional pensions.
More broadly, Kerry has been a strong and often prescient voice: on climate change, on global terrorism threats, on AIDS. He led the 2005 filibuster that ended - by one vote - the Republican effort to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has been a stalwart friend to veterans, increasing their pay, helping them get small business assistance and fighting for improved healthcare. With a fellow veteran, Republican John McCain, he negotiated painful issues regarding wartime MIAs, which led to normalized relations with Vietnam.
Kerry's opponent, Gloucester lawyer Edward O'Reilly, is energetic but utterly unprepared for the job of US senator. He is running against Kerry from the left, not a persuasive critique of a man who was red-baited for opposing the Vietnam War.
But it is the newer war - the one in Iraq - that animates O'Reilly's campaign. And here Kerry explains his decision with candor. "I had to vote the way I thought was appropriate for the security of the country at the time," he said. "I got burned. We got burned as a country."
Kerry has long labored in the shadow of the senior senator, Ted Kennedy, perhaps the most accomplished legislator in US history. Kerry is no Ted Kennedy, nor does he want to even consider a day when he may need to take over Kennedy's role. But we suspect part of the message the Democratic state convention was sending Kerry when O'Reilly won 23 percent of the vote in June was that Kerry needs to step up the pace, applying his prodigious smarts and connections to achieve gains in public policy.
If he is willing, we are sure he is able. 